Literature Reviews

Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.

• Empowering Accessible Gesture Input Design with Gesture-A11Y

  Mihail Terenti, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Radu-Daniel Vatavu (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava (Romania) introduces Gesture-A11Y, the first open-access web-based tool and database for accessible gesture input design, containing over 22,000 gesture records collected from 122 users with visua…

  • gesture interaction
  • motor accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • mobile accessibility
  • wearable technology
  • open data
  • input methods
  • wheelchair accessibility

• AccessMap Website Demonstration: Individualized, Accessible Pedestrian Trip Planning at Scale

  Nicholas Bolten, Anat Caspi (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents AccessMap, an open-source, city-scale interactive web map that provides individualized pedestrian infrastructure information and automatic trip planning for people with diverse mobility needs. The core problem is tha…

  • accessible mapping
  • pedestrian accessibility
  • mobility impairment
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • wayfinding
  • open data
  • personalization
  • trip planning
  • built environment accessibility
  • open source

• "I just went into it assuming that I wouldn't be able to have the full experience": Understanding the Accessibility of Virtual Reality for People with Limited Mobility

  Martez Mott, John Tang, Shaun Kane, Edward Cutrell, Meredith Ringel Morris (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents the first in-depth investigation of VR accessibility for people with limited mobility, a population largely overlooked in VR research that has focused primarily on rehabilitation applications rather than mainstream consumer VR use…

  • virtual reality
  • motor accessibility
  • physical disability
  • ability assumptions
  • inclusive design
  • input methods
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • emerging technology

• Lessons Learned from Designing, Deploying and Testing an Accessible BLE Beacon-based Wayfinding System in a Multi-Floor Indoor Environment

  Ajay Abraham (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper documents the practical guidelines and design decisions involved in deploying a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon-based indoor wayfinding system in a three-story college campus building. The system builds on GuideBeacon, a previously devel…

  • indoor navigation
  • wayfinding
  • BLE beacon
  • blind and low vision
  • mobile accessibility
  • localization
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • assistive technology

• UnlockedMaps: Visualizing Real-Time Accessibility of Urban Rail Transit Using a Web-Based Map

  Ather Sharif, Aneesha Ramesh, Trung-Anh Nguyen, Luna Chen, Kent Richard Zeng, Lanqing Hou, Xuhai Xu (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents UnlockedMaps, an open-source web-based map that visualizes the real-time accessibility status of urban rail transit stations across six North American cities: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, a…

  • transit accessibility
  • elevator outages
  • web-based maps
  • open data
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • mobility disabilities
  • urban accessibility
  • civic technology

• Assistive or Artistic Technologies? Exploring the Connections between Art, Disability and Wheelchair Use

  Giulia Barbareschi, Masa Inakage (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper explores the reciprocal influences between art, disability, and assistive technology use through semi-structured interviews with 17 artists who use wheelchairs for mobility. Participants spanned diverse artistic disciplines — dance (7), mu…

  • disability art
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • creativity
  • disability identity
  • embodiment
  • ableism
  • disability culture
  • artistic technology
  • inclusive design

• Embodied Exploration: Facilitating Remote Accessibility Assessment for Wheelchair Users with Virtual Reality

  Siyou Pei, Alexander Chen, Chen Chen, Franklin Mingzhe Li, Megan Fozzard, Hao-Yun Chi, Nadir Weibel, Patrick Carrington, Yang Zhang (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents Embodied Exploration, a Virtual Reality system that allows wheelchair users to remotely assess the accessibility of unfamiliar physical environments by exploring high-fidelity digital replicas while embodied by personalized avatar…

  • wheelchair accessibility
  • virtual reality
  • embodied interaction
  • accessibility assessment
  • digital twin
  • 3D scanning
  • user-centered design
  • mobility disability
  • remote assessment

• UnlockedMaps: A Web-Based Map for Visualizing the Real-Time Accessibility of Urban Rail Transit Stations

  Ather Sharif, Aneesha Ramesh, Qianqian Yu, Trung-Anh H. Nguyen, Xuhai Xu (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents UnlockedMaps, an open-data web-based map that visualizes the real-time elevator status of urban rail transit stations in six North American cities: Bay Area, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Toronto. The work addresse…

  • transit accessibility
  • urban accessibility
  • open data
  • web-based maps
  • elevator outages
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • mobility disability
  • civic hacking
  • participatory design

• Case Study: In-the-Field Accessibility Information Collection Using Gamification

  Akihiro Miyata, Kazuki Okugawa, Yusaku Murayama, Akihiro Furuta, Keihiro Ochiai, Yuko Murayama (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This study introduces and evaluates a crowdsourcing platform designed to collect real-world accessibility information for constructing accessibility maps that support people with mobility disabilities. Accessibility maps are critical for safe navigat…

  • crowdsourcing
  • gamification
  • accessible maps
  • physical accessibility
  • pedestrian infrastructure
  • deep learning
  • urban accessibility
  • mobile application
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • computer vision